One of
the best experiences I had while we were on our recent trip to New England and the East Coast was
being a guest at my great niece, Anna’s first grade class in Fairfax, Virginia.
The class was working on a poetry unit. They had spent a lot of time in the
last two months writing and illustrating Ouch, Acrostic, Animal, Color, and
Haiku poems in preparation for a program for family and friends called Poetry
and Punch.
At first
I thought Jessica, the teacher, wanted me to give them a lesson in writing
Haiku – the poetry form they were currently working on. But, no. They already
were writing them and knew all about the form. So I was pleasantly surprised to
find out that I was going to have a Question and Answer session with them.
Jessica had the children sit on the rug in the front of the room and introduced
me as Anna’s Aunt Madeline, the author. She then gave them the opportunity to
ask me any questions they had about my work as a writer and author. And from
the very first question I knew I was really in for a treat. These children knew
exactly what to ask.
(stock photo - not from Anna's class)
Here are
some of the questions they asked me:
Writing related questions:
Do you
write chapter books?
What are
the names of your books?
How did you
learn to be a writer?
How did
you get your first job?
Where do
you write?
Do you
write children’s books?
How do
you make a book after you write it?
And a few personal questions:
How do
you spell your name
Why did
you change your last name when you got married?
What is
your husband’s name?
After the
Q and A, they went back to their tables and continued writing while Lyssa and I
went around the room and helped them with wording and spelling. They then went
back to the rug and volunteered to share their poems in practice for the poetry
event the following week when they’ll get a chance to recite their poems to an
audience with the help of a microphone.
I was
indeed impressed with the creativeness of the teacher, the inquisitiveness of
the students, and the work they are doing in class. I’ve always loved poetry –
even as a child – but I didn't have lessons in writing poetry until much later in
my life.
